


Welcome to the Velvet Room

by OugiOshino



Series: Welcome to the Velvet Room Extended Universe [1]
Category: Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Twins, Amamiya Ren and Kurusu Akira Are Twins, Amnesia, It's hard to explain, Multi, POV Alternating, POV Multiple, POV Third Person, Velvet AU canon, Velvet Room Attendant Akechi Goro, again it's akechi, akira is actually miserable, it was in the past, major character death is akechi, make akira kurusu fucking miserable, my mission statement?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-01
Updated: 2021-03-12
Packaged: 2021-03-18 17:07:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,447
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28995714
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OugiOshino/pseuds/OugiOshino
Summary: "Welcome to the Velvet Room inmate, together we shall work towards your rehabilitation."An AU where Goro Akechi is Akira's velvet room attendant from the beginning to the end, and everything in between
Relationships: Akechi Goro & Caroline, Akechi Goro/Kurusu Akira, Amamiya Ren & Kurusu Akira, Caroline & Justine (Persona Series), Caroline & Kurusu Akira, Kurusu Akira & Justine, Kurusu Akira & Phantom Thieves of Hearts, Velvet Siblings - Relationship
Series: Welcome to the Velvet Room Extended Universe [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2212386
Comments: 5
Kudos: 43
Collections: Velvet AU





	1. Chapter 1

"Welcome to the Velvet Room inmate, I am Goro Akechi. Together we shall work towards your rehabilitation." Akira woke up to an unfamiliar ceiling, the most beautiful man that he had ever seen leaning over him as he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes.

"Who...? Where am I...?" The man frowned, running his fingers up and down the spine of the large book that he was holding.

"I see... you have not been informed of anything yet..."

"The hell you talking about? One minute I'm asleep in that dingy attic and the next I'm in some... prison?" A prison... that's where he was. He hadn't noticed until now, but this place was mostly definitely a prison.

"This is not really a prison, it is merely your cognition of the world around you," The man sat down on the bed next to Akira, setting his book down by his feet, "I shall try to be patient with you, but all will be explained in time," A tight forced smile flickered across the beautiful man's lips for a second before he frowned yet again, "now then, what do you want to know?"

"Who **are** you?" The man's eyes widened in surprise and he let out a disappointed sigh.

"I told you already, Goro Akechi. Think of me as... your... attendant, for lack of a better word. I am to guide you on your path as you head towards your rehabilitation."

"What's that supposed mean? 'Rehabilitation'?" Akechi reached for his book, opening the cover, and frantically flipping through the pages.

"I am not allowed to tell you. My apologies." He slammed the book closed again.

"Cool."

"Cool? You seem very strange indeed inmate." Confusion flickered through Akechi's eyes and he glanced around the small cell nervously.

"So I've been told." Akira pressed a hand to his head as a sharp pain suddenly coursed through him.

"Ah... your time here as come to end. We shall meet again the next time that you slumber." Akechi rested a gloved hand on Akira's forehead and Akira's vision blacked out.

He awakened again, staring at the ceiling of the dingy and dusty attic. He got out of bed, stifling a yawn as he stumbled through getting dressed. Huzzah, he got to go to school. How _wonderful_. If only Sojiro would drive him.

Akira wandered through the crowded Tokyo streets, heading for his new school. Just as he was about to reach where the school grounds started, it began pouring. He ducked under the nearby awning of a convenience store, running a hand through his soaked hair. Damn, that was definitely going to frizz. What a pain. Having curly hair was a real burden sometimes. He opened the zipper of his bag, praying that he had shoved an umbrella in there at some point. But no such luck, the bag was devoid of even his textbooks. God, what a failure he was. As he sighed at his own shortcomings, a blonde girl ducked under the awning with him, squeezing water of her long ponytails. She glanced over at him, nodding a small hello.

“Getting caught in the rain sure sucks doesn’t it?” She was talking to him, she was talking to him. Shit, shit, shit. What was he supposed to say?

“Yeah-“ Before he could continue, a car stopped in front of the convenience store. The man inside rolled down the window and gestured for the girl to get in. She sighed, giving Akira a small smile as a way of saying goodbye. She didn’t seem happy as the man drove off in the direction of Shujin Academy.

“AGGGHRHHRHR KAMOSHIDA! THAT ASSHOLE!” As the car sped away, a blond boy came running up, nearly crashing into Akira as he stepped out from under the awning. Akira felt his phone buzz in his pocket, but he chose to ignore it for the time being, “Who does that pervert think that he is? Running the school like it’s a castle. Damn bastard.” Akira phone continued buzzing and he continued to ignore it. There was no way it was anything important anyway. Who the hell would want to contact him? No one, that’s who, “ah, are you a new student?”

“Yeah, transferring in today. I seem to be a little lost.” The blond boy’s eyes lit up.

“That’s no problem! If you’re lost, I’ll show ya the way! C’mon follow me!” Akira followed the boy closely as he ran off through some side alleys. Was this really the way to get to the school? Well… if it saved time… it saved time. At least he hadn’t met the first person from his new school face first in a trash can like his dad had.

They emerged from the alley and in front of them stood a large castle. Akira blinked a few times, removing his glasses and rubbing his eyes just to make sure he wasn’t hallucinating. He wasn’t.

“What the-? The school is supposed to be right here!” The blond boy stared up at the castle in shock and confusion.

“Guess we’re out of luck for today…” Akira stared at the ground, kicking a pebble around in a circle by his feet.

“Oh no, you don’t get to be like that. I know we just met and all, but you’re coming with me. We’re investigating this place!” Akira sighed as he was grabbed by the arm and dragged by the blond boy into the castle.

As they reached the entrance, Akira spotted something out of the corner of his eye. A bright blue door, a door to a prison.

“Wait…” He struggled out of the blond boy’s grasp and ran over to the door, tentatively placing a hand against the bars.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you inmate.” Akira jumped a little as the beautiful man from his dream last night spoke from beside him - Akechi-san, that was his name.

“Dude? What are you looking at? C’mon, let’s go investigate this place!” Could the blond boy not see the door? It was right in front of him.

“I…” Akira glanced at Akechi who sighed.

“He cannot see the door. No one but you can,” The attendant ran a hand through his silver hair before sighing again, “now if you’ll excuse me, I have some business to attend to.” With that, he entered the door to that strange room, the door vanishing a small blue blaze as Akechi closed the door behind him. Akira reached out a hand to stop him, but he was far too late.

“Dude, you good?” The blond boy came up behind him, resting hand his shoulder. Akira flinched and shoved his hand off.

“I’m fine, let’s go.” Akira turned away from the where the door had been, leading the blond boy into the castle.

It would be just his luck to get captured within moments of stepping into the place. The blond boy threw a fit, kicking at the bars and walls of the cell in his anger. Akira however didn’t mind it that much; he was getting used to being in cells.

“So, since we’re stuck in here together, we might as well learn something about each other. The name is Ryuji Sakamoto.”

“Akira Seta… though I prefer to go by Kurusu,” The blond boy -Ryuji, Akira gently reminded himself- cocked an eyebrow up at him in confusion, gesturing for him to explain, “Kurusu is my birth name. I was adopted by my dads when I was ten. Technically, my last name is Seta, but they don’t mind all that much if I choose to go by Kurusu.”

“You’re weird.”

“So I’ve been told.” Ryuji sighed, slouching to the dirty ground of the cell, looking like he wanted to bang his head against the wall until something, **anything** , happened, and Akira didn’t blame him. Just as he was about to start contemplating his existence, some of the soldiers in the castle clanged up to the bars, slamming on them loudly to get the boys attention.

“Oh great! What do you want?!” Ryuji stood up and walked over to the bars, slamming on them right back at the soldiers.

“Your sentence has been decided: execution.” Execution? What would Akira’s parents think? Then again…

“WHHAAAAATTTTT?!” Ryuji stumbled back and fell flat on his ass. The door to the cell then opened and what seemed to be the king of the castle sauntered in.

“If it isn’t our little rats. Don’t you know that trespassing in my domain is forbidden?” The king smirked arrogantly down at Ryuji on the floor, kicking the blond boy a little.

“You’ve gotta be kiddin’ me! We were just trying to get to-!” Ryuji was cut off as the king kicked him in the stomach, launching him into the wall.

“You’ve got quite the mouth on you… for an intruder. I think you ought to consider you situation.” Akira stood up from where he had been sitting, intending to say something to the king. But before he could say anything, the king gestured for some of the soldiers to hold him down. He was promptly pinned against the wall, struggling against the soldiers. Shit… what were those martial art techniques his aunt had taught him for situations like this again? Why couldn’t he remember?! If he didn’t… then they were…

“Asshole! We didn’t intrude anywhere!” The king kicked Ryuji in the stomach again to shut him up and gestured at the soldiers to hold Akira tighter.

“Keep him there, that one will die next.” He gestured to some more soldiers, having them lift up Ryuji, holding a knife to the blond boy’s throat.

“What’s the matter…? Are you just going to watch? Are you forsaking him to save yourself?” Akira’s head pounded as someone suddenly started talking to him. He winced, managing to wiggle out of the soldiers’ grasp as he struggled in his pain, “Death awaits him if you do nothing. Was your previous decision a mistake?” The voice… it was talking about what had gotten him arrested and sent to the place. No… it hadn’t been a mistake, not matter what anyone said, “Very well, I have heeded your resolve. Vow to me. I am thou, thou art I. Thou who are willing to perform all sacrilegious acts for thine own justice! Call upon my name and release thy rage! Show the strength of thy will to ascertain all on thine own, though thou be chained to Hell itself!”

“Execute him!” The king commanded his soldiers to kill Ryuji, but Akira cleared his throat, directing their attention over to him.

“That’s enough.” The king glared at him, turning sharply on his heel to face Akira.

“What was that? Do you desire to be killed that badly? Fine then!” He gestured for the soldiers to advance on Akira, but they stopped abruptly as a figure cloaked in blue flames appeared behind Akira.

“I am the pillager of twilight – Arsene!” This presence, it felt familiar, almost comforting in a way. Ryuji stared up in shock at the figure from where he’d been dropped to the ground, muttering something that Akira didn’t quite catch, “I am the rebel’s soul that resides within you. If you so desire, I will give you the power you require to fight through this crisis.” Akira didn’t want to die, not here and not now! “Very well, that is the correct decision.”

“GUARDS!! KILL HIM!! NOW!!!” The king directed his soldiers to charge, but Akira wasn’t afraid. He had the strength he needed to fight.

“Detest the enemies before you! Change that animosity into power… and unleash it! This power of mine is now yours. Run wild to your hearts content!” Ryuji stared on in shock, and quite frankly horror, as Akira tore apart the soldiers. Guess those knife skills that his dad had taught him had come in handy after all.

“What the hell dude?! That’s freakin’ awesome!” Ryuji excitedly grabbed at Akira’s arm as the king started to run away. Akira grabbed him, shoving him into the cell and locking him in with keys that he had retrieved off of one of the soldier’s bodies.

“Come on, we should leave while we still have a chance.” Akira turned on his heel, heading off to search for an exit with Ryuji trailing nervously after him. Of course things wouldn’t go normally for Akira… they never did.

“Mrrrroowww! Over here!” A weird cat shaped being called out to Akira from inside one of the cells, and being the person Akira was, he freed the strange cat, “oh thank god! I’ve been stuck in that musty cell for ages! As thanks for freeing me, I’ll lead you out of this place!”

“How’s a cat supposed to help us?” Ryuji glanced at the ‘cat’ suspiciously, giving Akira a questioning glance.

“I am not a cat! My name is Morgana!” The ‘cat’ hissed at Ryuji, making a swipe at him while Ryuji jumped back quickly.

“I say we give him a chance.” Why not? Trust the weird slightly humanoid cat, things couldn’t go wrong.

“I like your sense of style Mister! Mrrow! Follow me!” Morgana ran off, Akira right behind. It wasn’t like things could get any weirder at this point, and if Morgana knew the way out, then he was the person -er, cat- that they had to trust. Nothing about Akira’s life was normal, never had been, so if a cat was his only chance at making it out of this place alive, then he was going to follow that cat.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oh boy... Akira is actually miserable. Just let him go home...

By some miracle, the cat actually did lead them out of the palace. Akira breathed a small sigh of relief as he reached the street, Ryuji panting like an idiot beside him.

“What the actual hell was that?!” Ryuji breathed out, leaning against the nearest wall to catch his breath. Akira stayed quiet. What was he supposed to say? He didn’t know what that had been either, but it definitely had something to do with his dream from last night. That boy -Akechi- had been there, at that strange palace. If Akira wanted answers, he figured that he was probably going to have search out that strange, mysterious, beautiful boy.

“Hey! Are you two Shujin students?!” Akira flinched as a police officer walked over to them, calling out as he got closer. Shit, shit, shit.

“Yeah! So?!” Ryuji snapped at the officer, glaring at him. Akira nearly smacked him. He was going to get both of them arrested.

“Cutting class, now are we?”

“Huh? No! We were going to school and then we got trapped in this weird castle!” The officer raised an eyebrow at Ryuji. Akira didn’t blame him, it sounded completely crazy. It was barely believable to him, and he had been there. The police officer turned to Akira, shooting him a questioning glance.

“Are you two friends?” Akira sighed, running a hand through his unruly curls.

“No. I just met him,” Ryuji kicked him in the back of the shin, but Akira didn’t care. It was the truth after all, they had just met, “we’ll go to school now officer.” He grabbed Ryuji’s arm, dragging in the direction that he assumed the actual school was in.

A teacher stood at the entrance to the gates and glared at Ryuji and Akira as they approached the school.

“You two are late.” He started down the stairs to the gate but was stopped by another teacher reaching out an arm in front of him.

“Well well, if it isn’t Sakamoto.” This teacher was… the king from that castle… Akira stared up at him in shock, trying to organize his thoughts. What was the meaning of this?

“Fuck… it’s Kamoshida.” Ryuji muttered this under his breath, just barely loud enough for Akira to hear.

“You might want to start watching the time Sakamoto. You’re terribly late, but I’ll give you pass this one time. Get to class.” Kamoshida gestured for Ryuji to head into the school and the blond begrudgingly obeyed. The teacher then turned his gaze to Akira, “don’t I recognize you?”

“You shouldn’t, it’s only my first day.” Why couldn’t he have just been put on probation and stayed in Inaba. He’d rather continue going to Yasogami for another boring year than suffer in a new school.

“Ah, so you’re the transfer student. I wouldn’t hang out around Sakamoto if I were, wouldn’t want to fuck up more than you already have.” With that, Kamoshida headed into the school and Akira slunk in after him.

“You’re late!” Akira’s homeroom teacher scolded him as he finally turned up in the faculty room. He bowed his head in apology to her as she sighed, “ah well, at least you’re here now. Come on, I’ll take you to the classroom and introduce you. Don’t say anything unnecessary, alright?” Akira nodded in understanding as he followed her through the unfamiliar halls. Compared to Yasogami, this school didn’t seem as alive. Tokyo… it was very different from the small town where he had grown up. Back in Inaba, he’d known everyone he’d gone to high school with. Here, he didn’t know anybody.

The teacher cleared her throat as she stood at the front of the classroom, slamming her hand against the desk in front of her to get the class’ attention.

“Calm down everyone! This is the new transfer student!” At the words ‘transfer student’, the entire class turned their attention to her, starting to whisper quietly and excitedly amongst themselves, spreading rumors down the rows. Akira should have figured… “go ahead and introduce yourself Seta-kun.”

“It’s Kurusu. Akira Kurusu.” The teacher glanced questioningly at him and shrugged her shoulders.

“Kurusu-kun it is then.” The whispers intensified, as they rightfully should have. Akira knew he was strange; he knew that better than anyone else.

“He looks normal… but who knows what happens when he gets mad?” Lies, slander. Akira hardly ever got mad, not even when life was inevitably unfair to him. The teacher gestured to an empty seat behind a girl with long blonde hair and Akira headed over to it. That girl, she was…

“What if he hits us?” The whispers continued as Akira sat down and he sighed, slouching down in his seat. These people didn’t understand… what he’d done to get himself arrested was entirely uncharacteristic of him. And he hadn’t even done anything. People who’d known him would understand… or would they? The way his parents had looked him… that wasn’t anger, it was disappointment. They had only agreed to him being sent away because they were worried, but so far, it had only hurt more than it had helped Akira. He wanted to go home, he wanted to go home.

“Oh, you’re the guy from…” The girl turned around to get a better look at Akira and gasped as she recognized him, “no way. That **would** be my luck.” The teacher goes on to talk about some sports festival, but Akira just zones it out. Who cared?

“You better not be hanging around Sakamoto-kun, he’s only trouble,” Miss Kawakami warned him about Ryuji in the corridor after class, glaring at Akira as he quietly let her scold him, “he’s a real problem child, you’d be better off not getting involved with him.” As she headed towards the faculty office, Ryuji ran up to Akira, grabbing his shoulder suddenly. Akira flinched, quickly shoving Ryuji’s hand off and turning around to glare at him.

“Meet me on the roof in twenty.” Ryuji then took off down the hallway and Akira stared miserably after him. What was the point?

And yet Akira went anyway. Ryuji sat on one of the abandoned desks, looking like a typical delinquent. Akira slid into one of the abandoned chairs, giving Ryuji a questioning glance.

“Glad you decided to come dude. Sorry for calling out like this, but I wanted to talk to you alone.”

“You know, my teacher told me not to get involved with you.”

“Figured, but you know… there are some pretty awful rumours flying around about you.” Right, of course there were. Because Akira had terrible luck and his life had always been fucking miserable.

“None of it’s true.”

“Well duh, you don’t look like the kind of guy who could assault someone. I mean, look at yourself, there’s no way you’re the viscous guy that could do anything of those things that those rumours talk about.” Akira sighed, shifting his eyes to sky. There was no way he could talk about this with someone he had just met, “but no wonder you have guts, you’re not letting any of this phase,” Oh if only Ryuji knew how wrong he was, Akira wasn’t a confidant person in the slightest, “anyway, I wanted to ask about what happened in the palace. That wasn’t a dream, you saw it too, right?”

“Yes, I remember it quite clearly. It was only this morning after all.” Ryuji laughed softly.

“You’re real funny dude,” Akira scowled, he hadn’t been trying to be funny, “I also wanted to thank you for helping me out in that place. The king there, it was Kamoshida. He was that asshole from the school gate,” Ryuji took a deep breath before continuing to talk about Kamoshida, “he’s the coach of the volleyball team and a former Olympic medalist. No one can touch him. And the fact that he’s the king at that strange castle just feels a little too real to me,” Akira got what he was saying, something about the feeling that he had been able to feel while he fought in there was… wonderful. Wonderfully real, “want to try and go back sometime?” Akira perked up at that. If he could feel that again… then maybe he would finally feel alive again.

“I… that would be acceptable.” Ryuji laughed, standing up and walking over to Akira. Luckily, he didn’t try to clap his shoulder this time, instead just sticking a hand out for Akira to shake.

“Sorry again for calling you out like this. But we really are quite similar you know, just a pair of delinquents. I’ll say hi to you again!” Ryuji ran off, leaving Akira sitting there staring at the sky. If only Ryuji knew… if only he knew. Akira wasn’t a delinquent at all, a more accurate description would be ‘problem child’. He only caused problems for everyone. That’s why back home, he had played the perfect little honor student, trying to make at least one person proud of him -one person who wasn’t part of his family. He tried so hard to hide how broken he was.

“Kid… did you skip class today? I got a call from your teacher.” Sojiro glared at Akira as he walked into Leblanc, looking like he wanted to give him the scolding of his life.

“I didn’t skip, I just got a bit lost.” Akira ignored Sojiro’s glares, heading upstairs and flopping down on his bed. What was the point?

“Ah… I see you’re awake now,” Akira blinked his eyes open to the ceiling of the room from his dream the previous night, that same beautiful boy watching him – from outside the bars this time, “the master would like me to deliver a message to you,” Akira sat up, staring intensely at Akechi. This would be the third time that they’d met now, meaning that this really was more than a dream, “you’ve awakened to your power, now you start heading down on the path towards your rehabilitation. The master has high hopes for you, after all, you wield a power that is very unique. You wear your personas as if they are a mask, they are the armor of your heart that allows you to face the outside world.”

“What does your ‘master’ expect of me?” Akechi frowned, opening his book, and flipping through a few pages.

“Ah… you will learn that in due time,” he slammed the book again and cleared his throat, “the master would also like to know how you are enjoying the MetaNav.”

“The… ‘MetaNav”…?”

“The app that allows you to travel between the real world and the Metaverse.” The Metaverse… that had to be the place where that weird palace was, “the master has given you that navigation app, but using it by yourself will be quite lonely. If you find someone who wields the same power as you, you must join forces with them. Everything is for your rehabilitation.” The words that Akechi spoke didn’t match his beautiful face. He spoke softly, his long lashes blinking over brilliant golden eyes.

“Of cours-“ Akira cut himself off as a sharp pain ran through.

“It seems your time here has come to end, return to your fleeting rest now.” And then Akira blacked out.

He awoke staring at the dingy attic ceiling. Another one of those dreams… and another time that he had seen the mysterious, yet beautiful, Goro Akechi. He wanted to… he wanted to know him better. For the first time in years, he actually wanted to something. It was practically a miracle.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> kudos are love, comments are life. it gives me the energy i need to keep going  
> [Twitter](https://twitter.com/OwlHeart8)  
> [Fic Playlist](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/45R6jCFd3HVWPQWhg8xd0h?si=RUmDdUTJTeq2tR0WJ4SQfQ)


	3. Chapter 3

Akira pretended to be the perfect student, a task that was far too easy for him. Pretending was second nature to him at this point. Sometimes he wondered what parts of him were real and which were parts that he had made up to please the people he wanted to impress. Which parts were faked, and which ones were who he really was. Ah well, it’s not like it mattered anyway. The only person he could be himself around was Ren, and Ren was…

“Hey!” Ryuji’s sudden shout out to Akira startled him out of his thoughts and he turned to glare at the blond boy. He walked over to Akira, casually slinging his arm around his shoulders without a care in the world, “so I was thinking… we find a way back to that castle. You’re the only other one who saw that place, so you’re coming with me.” Akira nearly groaned out loud. He did **not** want to go back to that place.

“What do you plan on doing.” He asked flatly, not actually caring what Ryuji was going to do. This didn’t have to involve him if he didn’t want it to, and he wanted to stay far far away from any trouble so he could go home sooner.

“That’s what I’m talking about! So, what I was thinking was, we walk the same path that we did yesterday. I mean, you have to go to the station anyway. Just tell me if you spot anything strange on the way.” Ryuji grabbed Akira’s arm, dragging him along their path from the day before, much against Akira’s will. But… Ryuji didn’t seem like a bad guy.

“Let’s see… it should be right around here. It was this street, right?” Ryuji glanced at Akira for an answer, but Akira just glared at him, finally managed to free his arm from the blond’s vice grip, “fine, if you’re gonna be like that dude, then just tell me if you see something.” He ran off through the side street towards the school and Akira trailed after him like an abandoned dog in the rain.

They soon arrived at the school gates again and Akira rolled his eyes as Ryuji glanced between the school and Akira in confusion.

“But… but… we must have made a wrong turn!”

“We didn’t make a wrong turn. It’s got nothing to do with the school,” Ryuji glanced at Akira in shock and Akira didn’t know if it was that he had talked to Ryuji or that he seemed to know what was going on, “check your phone.” Akira watched as Ryuji pulled out as his phone and ogled at the mysterious app known as the MetaNav.

“What the hell is this app?!” Ryuji glanced at Akira like he knew the answer, but what he didn’t know was that Akira was as clueless as he was. He was just pretending that he knew what was going on, like he was always did.

“Don’t know, but I have it too. I tried to delete it… it always comes back.” Akira decided to not tell Ryuji that he had already figure out how to work it. He clicked through a few tabs before finding the navigation history, quickly transporting them back to the castle before Ryuji could say anything.

Why was Ryuji such a goddamned pain? Akira had to bail his ass out around practically every corner and they barely managed to escape with their lives again, even after Ryuji managed to summon his persona. What they had seen in there was terrible, but that was a problem for a different day when Akira didn’t feel like falling flat on his face and dying.

“Are you even tired?” Ryuji asked him, glancing up from where he’d collapsed on the ground, just barely managing to gasp the words out.

“Of course, I’m only human.” Sure… he didn’t like showing emotion or expressing his weaknesses, but he was still a human being. He got tired, and pretty easily at that.

“Huh. I guess you’re just the type where it doesn’t show easily on your face,” Ryuji stood from the ground, leaning against the wall to support his tired body, “anyway, those guys we saw in there, I memorized all their faces. We can go talk to them tomorrow about Kamoshida’s abuse. You will help me find them right?”

“If I have to.”

“That’s the spirit! There’s no need to act all quiet just because you have a record! If anything, you should be the one speaking out the most!” Oh no… Ryuji was wrong. Because of his record, he had to keep his head down. He had to keep quiet to make sure that he didn’t do anything else wrong. He had already made too many mistakes. He couldn’t do anything more to disappoint his dads… or Ren for that matter. He didn’t want Ren to wake up to a brother who was a useless disappointment.

“How did you even know about that?” That’s right… Ryuji shouldn’t have even known about his record.

“Ah… uh… Kamoshida leaked it to everyone. I’m real sorry dude,” Ryuji frowned, trying to apologize for something that he hadn’t even done. What was the point? It’s not like it even mattered anyway, “anyway… I’m getting real hungry. Wanna go get something to eat?” A small voice echoed in Akira’s head… something about Chariots or whatever. Not like it mattered.

“Whatever.”

“Cool! I know a real great udon restaurant!” Ryuji started running in the direction of the restaurant, gesturing for Akira to follow after. Akira reluctantly followed him, knowing he didn’t have much of a choice.

“So… what made you end up here in the first place?” Akira didn’t want to answer Ryuji’s prying questions in the middle of a public restaurant, but it’s not like he had a much of a choice. He was brought here against his will, and against his will, he was going to have to tell Ryuji about his past. At the very least, he didn’t have to tell him any real details. If he had to tell him, he was going to be as vague about it as possible. There was no way that he could ever tell him the whole truth.

“I’ve always been a problem child, and I ended up getting arrested. The end.” Yeah… that was about as vague as someone could get, especially about a situation like this.

“Damn… a problem child huh. Guess we’re real similar after all, I’ve always been called a problem child too.” Ryuji then scarfed down the rest of his food before exchange numbers with Akira and running out of the restaurant with reckless abandon in a hurry to get home. Akira sat there dumbfounded for a moment for standing to leave himself. His first friend was really going to be this guy huh?

“Kid, you better not have gotten into any trouble today.” Sojiro scolded Akira as soon as he walked in the door, but Akira just nodded a small hello to him before retreating upstairs. He didn’t have the energy to deal with being yelled at. He never did. His phone started to blow up from texts from Ryuji, but Akira didn’t have the energy to deal with that either. Instead, he just closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.

“Welcome to the Velvet Room inmate,” Akira blinked his eyes open to the blue ceiling again, glancing over at the cell door to see Akechi standing with his back to him, “are you getting used to this place yet? … You don’t need to answer that. The master wanted me to let you that while forging bonds will help you on your journey, that you shouldn’t make friends. He recommends not getting too close to those that you forge those bonds with.”

“And what about you? What’s your opinion?” Akechi widened his eyes in shocked, quickly whirling around to look at Akira.

“No one has ever asked me that before…” he paused for a moment to think, running his fingers along the spine of his book, “I suppose I would be of the opinion that… ah… opinions are hard for me. But I… oh uh… I believe that I would quite like to be friends with you inmate.” That voice echoed in Akira’s head again, this time speaking of justice or something.

“That’s fine. You seem like a better friend that the one that I already made.” Akechi flushed a deep red, turning back around so Akira couldn’t see his cute blushing face. Dammit. He was cute… wasn’t he? With that last thought, Akira lost consciousness again, slipping away from the Velvet Room. In time… he would come to understand more about that strange room and that beautiful sad young man.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry this took so long. I... ah ha... have had really bad writer's block. I'll try to get chapters up more regularly from now on, but I'm also working on some other projects that are part of Velvet AU, so we'll see.  
> kudos are love, comments are life. it gives me the energy i need to keep going  
> [Twitter](https://twitter.com/OwlHeart8)  
> [Fic Playlist](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/45R6jCFd3HVWPQWhg8xd0h?si=RUmDdUTJTeq2tR0WJ4SQfQ)


	4. Chapter 4

Akira blinked his eyes open to the dusty attic ceiling, sitting up and groaning. Every day he woke up. Every day he felt a little more miserable. Sometimes he wondered to himself what the point of all this was. Everything was so dull, and the world had lost all it’s colour months ago. The world had lost its colour the day he lost Ren. And nothing else mattered. He went to school, he went through the motions and pretended he cared. But in reality, he hadn’t cared for far too long.

“Come on! We’ve gotta find those kids who were harassed!” Ryuji stomped through the halls as the school day came to close, turning to Akira to remind him of their mission. He then ran off, without even giving Akira directions. What an absentminded idiot. Akira sighed, running a hand through his unruly curls before heading off to find the nurse’s office. If he remembered correctly, the kid who’d gotten smash right in the face during the volleyball rally had been sent there. As he headed across the courtyard to search in the other building for the nurse’s office, he bumped into the blonde girl that he had met on his first day of school.

“Hey, let’s talk.” By saying that, she left him no other option but to talk to her. Huh… smart girl.

“What do you want?”

“What’s with you? First of all, there are all those strange rumours about you. And you quickly become friends with that idiot Sakamoto, and you aren’t even in the same class.” She really was sharp.

“None of your business.”

“Oh? You think you’re all that?” She poked him in the chest with her finger, glaring defiantly at him, “then tell me what you’re planning to do Kamoshida.”

“Again none of your business. You don’t know me and if you knew what he was doing behind the scenes, you’d want to get rid of him too. And don’t even think about asking, you wouldn’t understand.” If she couldn’t tell that he was desperately trying to drive her away, then she had to be real stupid. Akira hated people, he always had. People were annoying and always got his way. People were the ones who had hurt Ren and got him sent to Tokyo. Society was a bitch.

“Well I just wanted to tell you that no one believe you. There are rumours flying. Whatever you’re planning on doing, no one will help you.” With a flip of her hair over her shoulder and a sharp glare at Akira, she was gone. He sighed and continued towards the nurse’s office. No one would help him anyway, even if he wanted them to.

“Hey.” The boy from the match – Mishima… that was his name – glanced up from where he was sitting on the bed, his eyes widening in shock at seeing Akira.

“W-what do you want?!”

“Kamoshida is punishing you; isn’t he?” Mishima gulped and buried his head in his hands.

“N-no! The reason I took that volleyball to the face is because I suck! And the bruises are from practice!” Akira pitied him. And he understood. He understood that pain, no matter how far in the past it had been for him. Akira sighed, running a hand through his hair. He was going to have to be nice… dammit, it had been ages since he’d said something nice to somebody. He patted Mishima’s shoulder gently, trying to sooth the other boy’s nerves.

“You don’t have to tell me… I’m sure he told you to keep quiet anyway.” That wasn’t calming at all. Good lord he was terrible at comforting people. The only person he truly knew how to deal was with was his brother and even then, he struggled.

“It’s not like there’s any point… even if you did manage to find evidence… it wouldn’t matter. No one would do anything. This is kind of a nuisance, so please don’t talk to me again.” Mishima then ran off, slamming the door to the room they were in shut behind him. So that’s what was going on… everyone seemed to know, and yet no one did anything about it. Because that’s just the way that society was. Twisted and warped, to the point where no one gave a shit about anyone anymore.

“We have to convince somebody! There’s got to be a way to make them admit what’s going on!” Ryuji was fired up, but Akira wasn’t so sure. There was something deeper going on here, something that struck fear in the hearts of the students. And he got that, fear was a way to control people. But that didn’t mean what Kamoshida was doing was right. Far from it. If Akira could fix this world, rid of the type of people like him, then maybe… he would finally be able to help someone…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> short chapter, but i had to get something done to appease the masses. here you go... take the scraps. who knows how long it will be before i update again  
> kudos are love, comments are life. it gives me the energy i need to keep going  
> [Twitter](https://twitter.com/OwlHeart8)  
> [Fic Playlist](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/45R6jCFd3HVWPQWhg8xd0h?si=RUmDdUTJTeq2tR0WJ4SQfQ)


End file.
